Link Joker
"Link Joker" (リンクジョーカー Rinku Jōkā) is a clan from the nation of Star Gate, introduced in Trial Deck 11: Star-vader Invasion, and the avatar of Void, are the evil force attacking Planet Cray in seasons 2 and 3. In the anime, Link Joker is responsible for Reverse, a phenomenon that causes Vanguard players to lose their soul and become possessed by Void. Reversed players (players affected by the Void in this way) can reverse other players by beating them in a cardfight. Reversed players use either Link Joker decks or decks based around a Яeverse unit, a unit corrupted by Link Joker. In the lore, the advance party of Link Joker are the Star-vaders, led by Chaos Breaker, and are directly responsible for the Great Invasion War. Their original objective was to invade worlds and purge them of life. However, Blaster Blade managed to split the seed of the void, and over time the clan has lost the will to invade and destroy, eventually becoming a regular clan of Cray, though the main force is yet to reveal themselves... Another group of Link Joker appeared; the Deletors, led by Daunting Deletor, Oksizz, who intended to destroy Cray with their planet Brandt, although Messiah managed to save Cray as well as Earth from them. Afterwards, the Messiah as well as the remains of all the Star-vaders and Deletors who died on Cray reincarnated into a new generation of Link Joker, with the Messiah becoming the clan's new leader. Background Link Joker in Modern Times "Link Joker", the invaders of the planet Cray, lost the war and failed to fulfill their objectives. Their directions have been divided into three. The "Star-vaders" managed to escape from the planet despite their heavy casualties. They were not utterly eliminated, and some of their commanders remained unscathed. Hiding somewhere in the universe, the Star-vaders are probably preparing for another invasion. For the "Deletors", who are bizzare beings lurking on the wandering star "Brandt", their number had been significantly reduced, but they are still wandering in the universe while preying on other lifeforms. The Link Jokers left on the planet Cray would have faced their inevitable destruction. However, under the Messiah's will of "Harmony and Regeneration", now, they would take actions as new lifeforms--- ---- The Factions of Link Joker, and their whereabouts "Star-vaders", the forerunners who have destroyed many planets; "Deletors", the wanderers who trample on the milky way---"Link Joker" have released many of its factions into different dimensions, but due to their defeat in "Invasion Great War" and the dissolution of "Messiah Scramble", a great incident that takes place in a planet of another dimension that bears striking resemblance to Cray, the distribution of factions has been changed a lot. A section of "Star-vaders" managed to escape from Cray, but they failed to return to the main force, and they are hiding somewhere in the universe. "Brandt", the base of the "Deletors" which left the collision orbit without directly hitting Cray, are still wandering in the universe despite the heavy losses of fighting force. Nonetheless, the soldiers of "Link Joker" who were destroyed in the great wars exist in the most special situation. Their bodies melted into the soil of Cray after their destruction, but the substance could not be assimilated as parts of the planet because their bodies are composed of matter and energy that do not exist on Cray. Afterwards, they were reborn as new life forms that take root on Cray, by the power of "Messiah" awakened from its slumber. The birth of new lives affect the environment of Cray, for instance, spirits that produce the vital energy of "Link Joker" were born. Playstyle A central theme of all of the Link Joker's playstyles is lock, a mechanic that renders their opponent's units unusable without removing them from the field. The control lock provides, while temporary, is extreme, and Link Joker uses these tactics to control the game in their favour. *The Star-vaders focus entirely on locking the opponent's units, and gain bonuses if the opponent has locked cards. Some have more powerful forms of lock, including forcing the opponent to put cards from their hand or deck on their circles as locked cards if they attempt to leave their circles empty, as well as extending locks via Omega Lock. *Messiah focuses on locking both the opponent's units and their own units, then unlocking them for bonuses. By locking and unlocking rear-guards during the battle phase, they can effectively stand them to perform more attacks in a single turn. They have some access to Omega Lock. *Deletors on the other hand focus on Delete, which reduces the opponent Vanguard's power to 0 and nullifies their effects to facilitate an aggressive playstyle. Some of their cards also Vanish Delete to permanently bind cards from the opponent's drop zone, allowing for an alternate win condition with Original Deletor, Egorg. A few Deletor cards can lock, but it is not a focus. Known/Notable Fighters *Toshiki Kai (Former) *Takuto Tatsunagi (Former) *Kourin Tatsunagi *Suiko Tatsunagi (Former) *Aichi Sendou (Former) *Kouji Ibuki *Noa Hoshizaki **Chaos Breaker *Raul Serra *Sugiru Kariya Design Concept The clan has 3 distinct themes, the Star-vaders are cybernetic beings, which is apparent in their predominantly metallic designs. They also typically have a/multiple Black Ring(s) somewhere on or around them. Their naming patterns are science (mostly physics/quantum physics) themed, inspired by famous theories such as Chaos Breaker Dragon and chaos theory, elements of the periodic table such as Shockwave Star-vader, Dysprosium and Dysprosium, or outer space objects, such as Garnet Star Dragon and Mu Cephei. The Deletors are aliens, and are more monstrous looking compared the sleekness of the rest of the clan, however unlike the Star-vaders, they are completely organic. Their naming patterns are as strange as their appearance. The Messiahs are transcendent beings that could almost be considered gods or deities, and most of them hold the Planets Cray and Earth. They resemble dragons, but are sleeker and more majestic. Their naming patterns are religious and/or safety themed, such as Excelics Messiah, and Amnesty Messiah respectively. Races Themes Sets containing Link Joker cards Booster Sets Extra Booster Sets Decks and Starter Sets Extra Collections List of Link Joker cards Grade 0 Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Etymology *The clan's name, Link (リンク Rinku) can also be read as "ring", referring to the signature appearance of the lock mechanic (two black rings orbiting the locked card). *Many of the Link Joker units' names are taken from science, for example: **Star-vader, Nebula Lord Dragon, Hollow Twin Blades, Binary Star, and Gamma Burst Fenrir all refer to astronomy terms (nebula, binary star, and gamma-ray burst respectively). **Some units are named after elements from the periodic table of elements such as Star-vader, Francium and Homing Star-vader, Fermium. **Some units are named after well-known scientists, such as Schrodinger's Lion and Schwarzschild Dragon. **Some units are named after terms in mathematics, such as Imaginary Orthos and Negligible Hydra. Trivia *Link Joker's name is outlined in red unlike all other clans, similar to the "Яeverse" in each Reverse unit's name. *The episode 128 of the original series featured a unit which was able to lock all rear-guards. Although its true identity was never revealed, it could could have been an early reference to "Omega" Glendios. *The used effect for locked cards is shown similarly to the orbital of atom proposed by Ernest Rutherford, which is usually seen in logo of atoms. **Some Link Joker units have runes in their Black Ring similar to some "Яeverse" units, their meaning is currently unknown. *This clan is tied with Gear Chronicle for having the greatest number of unique races (5 races). Category:Link Joker